A Beginner’s Guide to MOOCs

By Cherilyn Winkler. Online learning empowers students and offers alternatives to traditional higher education. The rising cost of higher education has sparked a revolution in online learning. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer a learning experience that wouldn’t otherwise be available to many of the students flocking to these free, online-only classrooms. Now, more universities are joining the trend, even though some administrators and educators worry that MOOCs could impact the current higher ed business model. According to a report from EDUCAUSE, the University of Manitoba sponsored the first MOOC in 2008, entitled “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge.” Since then, the online classes have become so ubiquitous that The New York Times dubbed 2012 The Year of the MOOC. Read more...